Professional Photography

Question: The pictures of my house that are on the MLS don’t look very good. Can I take my own pictures and have the agent put them on instead?

Answer: That is a question I have never been asked! "Pictures are worth a thousand words" is a common expression and never more true than in the MLS and the sale of your house. Pictures are what people are looking for when they search for a home on the internet. Many people have told me that if there is no picture or video on the property they won't even look at the details. When you consider that 90% of the buyers spend their time searching on the internet first before they even contact a real estate agent, then you can see the importance of the pictures. If pictures are that valuable, the excellent pictures are even more valuable. As an agent, when I search for properties for my buyers I look at all the pictures to see if it might appeal to my buyer's desires. It can be comical to see some of the pictures that show up. Pictures of the toilet with the lid up? Maybe that was a male real estate agent trying to show that other people do leave the toilet seats up and he is not the only one!? Obviously people want to get a feel for the house and see what the upgrades might be and what the house looks like from the front and back. You have to imagine yourself in the house and then be satisfied that it meets your search requirements before you make an appointment to see the house. Poor pictures result in fewer visits to the property which means you will eliminate many buyers that might have picked your house if the pictures better represented the home. So, back to your question, yes you can take your own pictures and send them to the agent to put into the MLS. They may need to be resized to a smaller file so that they will fit the requirements of the MLS file size but that can be done by programs that will resize photos. Better yet is to have a professional real estate photographer take the pictures as they know what to capture on a property that will satisfy the consumer. Excellent photos will draw a crowd and achieve a better outcome on your sale. If your agent does not use a professional photographer to take the pictures, then I would suggest you offer to pay for the professional as it will benefit you in the end and you will receive more prospective buyers and a higher price for your house. Normally, that is provided by the agent as they understand how important photos are as well. In the sale of a home, "A picture is worth thousands of dollars."